Fyre Fest. It's a name synonymous with chaos on an epic scale and earned the title 'worst music festival never staged'. Now its creator is back for more.
Thirteen months after his release from a US jail, after serving four years of a six-year sentence for fraud, Billy McFarland has announced he wants to give the festival another crack.
"Fyre Festival II is finally happening," he said in a tweet on Monday. "Tell me why you should be invited."
The 2017 Fyre Festival, planned for the Bahamian island of Great Exuma, promised attendees a luxurious experience.
Tickets cost up to US$100,000 ($140,000) and promotional material for the event suggested stars including Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, and Hailey Baldwin would be going to the "immersive music festival."
The lineup promoted performances from rappers Pusha T, Tyga, Skepta, and was publicised as an exclusive party, with a slick promotional video featuring bikini-clad models jumping from yachts into crystal clear waters.
The video promised the festival would be "two transformative weekends, the best in food, art, music and adventure, on the boundaries of the impossible."
Tickets were supposed to secure a "VIP" flight, accommodation at luxury villas, and if you dropped enough money, attendees could dine with performers.
Instead, there were rain-soaked mattresses in flimsy tents, zero performers, and - in a now infamous photo - sliced cheese on untoasted bread for meals. News of the shambolic event spread rapidly and ended with panicked guests scrambling to find accommodation or flights home. Hundreds were left stranded and starving.
It also forever changed the way influencers label sponsored posts, with disclosures now required. The weekend was so scandalous it spawned two documentaries unpacking the fateful event and saw a GoFundMe started to reimburse an unpaid local catering company.
Rapper Ja Rule, who was described as a co-organiser, faced more than a dozen lawsuits for Fyre Festival but was legally cleared of any wrongdoing.
Responses to McFarland's tweet mostly communicate shock, confusion, and also amusement.
Many are asking the same question: "who could have this much audacity?"
"You enjoyed prison that much?" "You think we forgot" and "what do you mean part 2?" are some of the other reactions to the announcement. Others vowed to pack their own lunch this time.
Earlier in April, McFarland foreshadowed his return, saying in a tweet: “I was one of the most Googled people in the world. What’s next will be the biggest comeback of all time. My plan: get some wins under my belt; rebuild trust, and build an audience so I can build the next media empire.”
In another tweet, he acknowledged that he owed people US$26 million ($38 million) - a fine he was given alongside his jail time - but said he was working on a plan to pay it back.
"I spend half my time filming TV shows. The other half, I focus on what I'm really, really good at," he began.
"I'm the best at coming up with wild creative, getting talent together, and delivering the moment," he said, adding a phone number at the end.
In another tweet, he said: "After 309 days locked in a 9 x 7 concrete box: books taken away; mail held; no phone calls, & 6 years on the sideline - there are few who understand the same level of consequence and failure, and absolutely no one who wants it badder."
